2024 is a year full of opportunities  for our country’s best players.  

The purpose of the Softball Australia High Performance program is to support our emerging players to become world class Aussie Spirit and Steelers players, now and into the future. The program features elite athlete development camps, exposure to high level competition and well-rounded education programs to help players become strong, fit, powerful, skilful, and resilient players who can beat the best teams in the world.  

Aussie Spirit 

The competition focus for 2024 in the Aussie Spirit program is the WBSC Open Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Italy on 15th – 21st July. The Aussie Spirit Training Squad was announced in August 2023, and these players will be involved in a program of training camps to build towards the World Cup across this year. The Spirit will also play an international test series against the Chinese Taipei women’s national team in Australia from 1st – 5th March.  Aussie Spirit selectors watched the action at the U23 women’s national championships in December and the Gilley’s Shield last month and will be extending invitations to Aussie Spirit camps to a few players who impressed during the tournaments. The World Cup team will be announced in mid-April and those selected will travel first to Vancouver to compete in the Canada Cup International Softball Championship before flying to Italy for the World Cup Finals. 

Women’s pathway 

The Aussie Spirit Challenge Camp, provisionally planned for 7th – 11th June (date TBC), will be the final team preparation on home soil for the Aussie Spirit World Cup team before they depart for Vancouver and Italy. This camp will also be an invitational opportunity for select players in the U23 age group to be involved in the national team program with national team coaches and selectors in attendance. Attendees will be divided into teams with scrimmage games organised in a mini-tournament format. Interested players should keep their eyes on the Softball Australia website and socials for their chance to submit and ‘Expression of Interest’ to attend the Challenge Camp. Following the EOI process, players will be invited to attend based on performances in the national championships, US college programs, overseas competitions or national program camps. 

This year, we have also reshaped the women’s pathway  program into an U19 program and an U16 program.  

U19 women’s program  

The U19 women’s program is a year-round development program, featuring 3 training camps, a team travelling to the U18 Women’s World Cup and ongoing individualised training plans, including strength and conditioning and technical programs. This program is for players born in years 2005, 2006, 2007 (and 2008 by exception). The U19 squad will be announced towards the end of January and will be invited to a 5-day camp in Sydney from 1st – 5th March. The camp provides an opportunity to play intersquad games and a game against the Chinese Taipei senior national women’s team, as well as high level technical and game scenario training. After this camp, the team to contest the U18 Women’s World Cup will be announced, with the U19 squad narrowed into a smaller group for more focused programming for the rest of 2024 with camps in July and October. The selected group will  be able to connect year-round with the programs’ head coach Leigh Godfrey and train according to their personal goals. 

The competition that the selected U18 team (junior spirit) will travel to in 2024 is the WBSC U18 Women’s World Cup: Group Stage tournament. It has not yet been announced which location the Australian Junior Spirit team has been allocated to, but the three possible destinations are Sao Paolo (Brazil, July 23-27), Pingtan (China, August 14-18) and Dallas (USA, August 29-September 2).    

U16 women’s program  

Players selected in an U16 squad will be invited to a 6-day athlete development camp at the Australian Institute of Sport from 15th – 21st July 2024, focused on extending technical skills, learning about nutrition, gym programs, mental skills and life skills. This camp will set-up players for success over the following 2 years of their development to help players progress in all aspects of their game and life. This program is for players born in years 2008 and 2009 (and 2010 by exception). 

Aussie Steelers  

The 2024 WBSC World Cup Group Stage is the main competition for the Steelers Program this year. Similar to the U18 Women’s World Cup, there are three locations for the tournament with group allocations yet to be announced.  The known locations and dates are Hermosillo (Mexico, June 12-16), Prince Albert (Canada, July 10-14), and Oklahoma City (USA, September 17-21). A Top-2 finish in this tournament will qualify the Steelers for the 2025 World Cup Finals in Prince Albert, Canada. The Aussie Steelers team for the World Cup Group Stage will be announced following the 2024 Open Men’s National Championships taking place in Adelaide from March 6-10.  

Men’s Pathway  

This year, with no World Cup competitions in the men’s pathway in 2024, the focus is ongoing player development and depth-building in the junior program. A squad has been selected from the U18 Men’s National Championships and players in this squad will be invited to a Junior Steelers athlete development camp in early October 2024 (Dates TBC). This camp will be an opportunity for these young players to learn about the skills that will help them excel as they move into adult competition and the principles on which the Steelers program is based. This squad will feature mostly players born in 2006 and 2007, with a few 2008-born players included based on exceptional performance at the U16 National Championships. Stay tuned for the announcement of this squad within the next few weeks. 

Programs for both boys and girls 

Under-14 coach and player development clinics 

In 2024, Softball Australia will once again hold player development clinics for boys and girls aged between 11 and 14yrsin Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth (for players born in years 2010, 2011 and 2012). This year the clinics will take place between March and June and will feature a fun weekend training camp with a chance to be coached by national team coaches and play alongside Aussie Steelers and Aussie Spirit players. This opportunity will be available to all players, as there is no selection involved to take part. Look out for the advert on Softball Australia socials in due course.  

Last year, Softball Australia took teams of Under-14 players to the Auckland Easter Classic tournament in New Zealand, but have decided not to do so again this year. Our partners Sportslink are separately organising a tour to the Easter Classic tournament for players and parents who want to sign up for this experience. You can find out more about this opportunity here.   

Elite Battery camps 

The newly announced Elite Battery Coach Academy is a game-changing initiative set to redefine coaching standards in Australian softball. This innovative program looks to go beyond traditional training, towards shaping the future of our sport by developing elite battery coaches while nurturing high-performing pitchers and catchers.

Pitchers and Catchers from within the national squads will be invited to two specialist camps in April and June 2024 for specialist positional coaching. These opportunities will be invitation-only for players, but coaches can apply to participate in the Elite Battery Coach Academy program that runs alongside these camps. The deadline for coach applications is 6th February and application information is located here.